What is Digg?182 Comments
- humanerror, on 05/03/2008, -1/+38Great. And how long before these super-intelligent apes go wild and start throwing barrels at our plumbers? Have we learned NOTHING from the 80s!?
- str3ama, on 05/03/2008, -7/+39Well this is only shocking to people who try to relegate the inteligence of animals, just so that they can rationalize human superiority on this planet. It also makes it a lot easier to accept animal abuse for entertainment or fashion if you think they're incapable of feeling pain, or having desires/traditions.
- insomniac8400, on 05/03/2008, -5/+31Give them all jobs at apple stores.
- inactive, on 05/03/2008, -4/+29Quick! Destroy them all; pay heed to the documentary 'Planet of the Apes'.
- norman619, on 05/03/2008, -2/+24Aren't humans apes as well?
- norman619, on 05/03/2008, -4/+24"Apes display rudimentary traditions which could be interpreted as culture but are they really bright enough to develop a proper culture?"
This is priceless. So in other words the only "real" culture is human culture and anything else is lesser. The human ego hard at work. - avaugha4, on 05/03/2008, -2/+20The unfortunate thing is that people still think in those terms. 'Back' is the wrong term, They are as highly adapted to their environments as we are to modern society. Try living in the jungle with nothing but yourself, and I mean nothing.
- norman619, on 05/03/2008, -2/+18For the idiot who didn't know that humans are one of the Great Apes here's a link for their education:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape
"Apes are the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, which includes humans. Under the current classification system there are two families of hominoids:
the family Hylobatidae consists of 4 genera and 13 species of gibbons, including the Lar Gibbon and the Siamang, collectively known as the "lesser apes"
the family Hominidae consisting of orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans,[1][2] collectively known as the great apes. " - avaugha4, on 05/03/2008, -4/+20You have to remember, for a lot of people that is part of their religious dogma. Sad as that may be.
- avaugha4, on 05/03/2008, -1/+14Indeed we are. Most people forget that, however. Don't know why you are being dugg down.
- Myonosken, on 05/03/2008, -2/+14Of course sir. I shall suck it then kill myself for obviously not being as brilliantly cool as yourself and proving how interesting I am by getting the first post.
PS: DIAF - RetroRufio, on 05/03/2008, -1/+13^^^ Apes are smarter than some of us :( ^^^
- mushroomsrmagic, on 05/03/2008, -2/+12dolphins are probably smarter than most people.
- SuperMoses, on 05/03/2008, -2/+12"We share over 99% of our active genes with chimpanzees and gorillas. The Great Ape Project casts a disturbing light on how we have treated our closest relative. It challenges us to reassess many of our ethical assumptions." --Carl Sagan, coauthor of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
- pstroll, on 05/03/2008, -2/+11Apes are the best. Too bad humanity is hell bent on driving them to extinction.
- TomFrost, on 05/03/2008, -2/+11What about my not funny?
- inactive, on 05/03/2008, -0/+9The opposite of a dormant gene.
- Murdats, on 05/03/2008, -2/+11i guess the alternative is to find how to use them as slaves, then people would breed them like mad.
- powatom, on 05/03/2008, -1/+9Cats are the most intelligent animals - they've trained us to build homes for them, spend our entire lives working to buy food for them, and as if that wasn't enough, we sit around like idiots stroking them.
- pyronik, on 05/03/2008, -2/+9how are we holding them back, we havent even been modern long enough to make a sizable impact into their evolutionary history. I mean the blame everything on people/us/capitalism ***** is kind of tired, and i guess it keeps people honest to a degree but you don't need to throw it out there any time something negative happens in this world
- avaugha4, on 05/03/2008, -3/+10***** Sapiens are in the family hominidae, in the order primates. Hominidae are commonly known as apes, lacking a tail, having the ability to brachiate and possessing a common, unique dentition pattern. We are apes, 100%, not 98% or even 99%.
- rokinroj, on 05/03/2008, -2/+9shhh...don't tell the fundamentalists.
- RetroRufio, on 05/03/2008, -0/+7Actually... FBI, CIA, NAACP, ASPCA, FICA, OBGYN, ADA, NFL, NASA, HEV, SARS, RIAA, MPAA
- wettestwillie, on 05/03/2008, -3/+9At the end of the video they ask, "Whats holding them back?" The answer is time.
- irvin666, on 05/03/2008, -4/+10Elephants are smarter than apes.
- Harabeck, on 05/03/2008, -0/+6The active genes are the only ones that affect us. So why are you trying to make this distinction?
- mewoot10, on 05/03/2008, -2/+8This is Digg, people like you aren't welcome. Please leave.
- Shaman760, on 05/03/2008, -4/+10Hey if one can get elected as President of the USA, they can do anything.
- d3athr1d3r, on 05/03/2008, -1/+7...and Dolphins.
- Tremor979, on 05/03/2008, -1/+7With all due respect to chimps and their intelligence but saying things like "(they) share 99 per cent of human genes" amounts to very little. Animals that are as complex as a fruit fly share about 90% of the human genome (most of it the same junk DNA all animals share). In that case the scale of similarity should be moved to the 90-100% range. In which case chimps would have a 90% similarity to humans over all other animals. Still big, but more realistic.
- L0t3k, on 05/03/2008, -0/+6I have to agree with you a bit. I hate the idea of injuring or destroying apes for... well, most any purpose. But I won't go so far as to broaden that to all animals. This is clearly just personal opinion.
I also have to mention, much as they do in this NatGeo special, that humans are so strikingly far above and beyond the rest of the animal kingdom in so many ways, it makes one curious about what it is that makes us so different. We problem solve, but so do other animals. We communicate, but so do other animals. We build, hunt, make and use tools, etc., but so do other animals. But clearly there's an issue of scope that makes our similarities to our distant cousins seem somewhat vague. Without running down a self-congratulatory (and sometimes frightening) list of human achievements and capabilities, it makes me wonder what it is that makes us so similar, but so different.
I've seen the special, or one that was very similar, and this question is just unanswered, as far as I'm concerned. What is it about that 1% of our genetic difference that multiplies our capacity for achievement a billion times over? - str3ama, on 05/03/2008, -1/+7I see my dog looking up at the air at something I can't see, so I assume that he's imagining things or that he can see something that I can't. Does his ability to see things that I nor any other human can see, make him superior to me? It's far easier to hold our own traits as the test of what makes a creature intelligent - but what about our shortcomings compared to other animals?
Termites build high-rising mounds as a means to vent nauseous gases that come about when the fungus they cultivate decomposes - to me that's industry. Ant's 'farm' aphids, nudging them to get at the drops of dew that they leave behind - again to me that's agriculture. I don't think these are innate behaviours, at some point they learnt from experiences and passed this on - applied knowledge if you will. - drmobutu, on 05/03/2008, -1/+6Sure, lots of apes can post to site like digg, but just read some of their posts...they're not geniuses...
- Harabeck, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/08 ...
"A comparison of Clint's genetic blueprints with that of the human genome shows that our closest living relatives share 96 percent of our DNA."
And the article makes it pretty clear theyre talking about the genome, not just active genes. - Myonosken, on 05/03/2008, -6/+11Does apes being 98% human scare you? =d
- Laytonx, on 05/03/2008, -4/+9Apetastic
- xiphy, on 05/03/2008, -2/+7To put it in perspective, I've read bacteria DNA is something like 70% the same as human DNA... Point being, all life shares a lot of common building blocks, so it's hardly worth something getting that excited about. The differences are clearly pretty large.
- Rentinu, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5"Ape genius: A chimp turns a handle on an experiment device (left) and a chimp examining red cups"
GENIUS! - phre3k187, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5"In a world gone mad, we will not spank the monkey, but the monkey will spank us."
- inactive, on 05/03/2008, -4/+8You are the proof that evolution does branch backwards from time to time...
- avaugha4, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4I didn't say we were in fact, I agree with your basic premise that we are not chimps, in fact we are not even derived from them in the first place. I was just pointing out the fallacy of saying we were '98% ape' for those who might not understand what we are.
- rovsky, on 05/03/2008, -1/+5"...they do not have control of their emotions. They are also violent, impulsive and display deadly rivalry."
not much has changed i guess... - inactive, on 05/03/2008, -1/+5I for one think this is nonsense! There is no way an Ape... hang one doorbell.... brb
- a1programmer, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4Wow... Shoving a stick into a tree. That's impressive. What's next, calculus ?
- charbo187, on 05/03/2008, -1/+5and also with you
- xedd, on 05/03/2008, -2/+6"For example, Western culture (Rule of Law, Equality, Democracy, Representative Government) is superior to many Eastern cultures"
Well, we could also point out that Western "culture" spreads across the world because it is more imperialistic (less peaceful), has adopted an economic behaviour pattern which makes it into a voracious, blindly and endlessly demanding nature-gobbling monster, and because quite frankly, it has better PR-marketing to brainwash the people of other cultures while being almost completely in denial of its own shortcomings.
Jus sayin - L0t3k, on 05/03/2008, -1/+5I'd love to be able to say "imagination" is the answer, but I think it might just be a nice sound bite. And sure, I think your examples are ones of industry and agriculture. But again, it's an issue of scope. These examples, much like the impressive feats of other non-human animals, are singular, comparatively tiny, and sometimes are only questionably "learned" behaviors. As arrogant as this sounds (though I'm not sure who could be offended) no other species demonstrates even a glimmer of the magnitude OR breadth of what humanity has done, often in a fraction of the evolutionary time, in most any field. While I don't expect you'd have the answer either... I wonder what it is about us that makes us so capable?
- Servebot, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4Damnit you beat me and probably 100 others to it.
- inactive, on 05/03/2008, -7/+10No, the claim that we're better than apes makes me laugh.
- AMSRay, on 05/03/2008, -3/+6I have to digg your comment for the last sentence. And to Myonosken: I don't think apes being 98% human scares anyone but you. However I wouldn't want to insult the apes. We know the difference between right and wrong and continue to act the way we do.
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